The Week that Was ...

Ending Monday, June 22, 2025

Jun 23, 2025

Welcome to the latest edition of The Week that Was, my rundown of what happened last week, curated, in the loosest sense of the word, for your reading pleasure, or displeasure.

We’re at war with Iran, allied with Israel. Scroll down for that. I’m going to start with the Albanian connection. Who is the Albanian connection? Prime Minister Edi Rama, who is the toast of the Clintons and the Trumps. And there is a LOT of Saudi money involved.

1. Photos of the Week: Sazan Island

Sazan Island figures prominently in the world today. To find out why, keep reading.

2. Yes Kings! Or Fiddling While Rome Burns

As millions were gathering for the No Kings! Demonstrations across the United States, the bourgeois nobility of the Democratic Party establishment gathered for the wedding of Huma Abedin, the former top aide to Hillary Clinton, and Alex Soros, the son of George Soros, the man who launched a thousand conspiracy theories. The couple tied the knot in, you guessed it, the Hamptons. Truth be told, the wedding took place in West Hampton, a few miles east of the plutocratic concentration of East Hampton. Although none of those guys has anything on Louis XIV.

Apparently the Bidens were not there.

Huma Abedin, as you may recall, was married to Anthony Weiner. She shared her laptop with him, the one she used to email back and forth with Hillary Clinton (very bad internet hygiene), and it was the revelation of this indiscretion with her oh-so indiscreet husband, who was unable to stop sending dick pics to underage teenaged girls, that led former FBI director James Comey to reopen the investigation of Hillary’s emails a scant nine days before the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Secretary Clinton dropped in the polls, canceled the fireworks for the Javits Center, Trump won the Electoral College, and bad history was made.

Numbered among the guests was Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama. PM Rama is Chairman of the Socialist Party of Albania. Rama is one of the originators of “Open Balkan,” a political grouping of three Balkan states: Albania, North Macedonia, and Serbia. Open Balkan celebrates the “Four Freedoms.” I know what you’re thinking. How wonderful! Someone is finally trying to put the Four Freedoms of FDR into to practice. How appropriate for a wedding of Democratic party aristocracy.

If you thought that, you would be wrong.

These four freedoms are the Four Economic Freedoms.

Boyz II Men played at the wedding.

“The Democratic establishment descended on the Hamptons this weekend for something of a political royal wedding that brought together the worlds of big-money politics and Clinton-era insiders.
“The festivities happened to coincide with an exceptionally chaotic weekend at home and abroad. Protesters gathered across the country to oppose President Trump even as he held an unusual military parade in Washington; a Minnesota lawmaker was assassinated in a new outburst of political violence; and attacks between Israel and Iran stoked fears of a wider Mideast conflagration.
“All was much calmer in the Hamptons, as convoys of black S.U.V.s ferried wedding attendees down a narrow leafy lane and through a gate flanked by purple flowers.
“The moneyed scene was especially striking given the Democratic Party’s raging debate over how to improve its historically low standing with voters and win back working-class Americans, with whom it is widely seen as having lost touch.
“As Maseratis, Porsches and other luxury cars glided down the road outside the wedding venue, some curious drivers slowed down before security officers quickly shooed them along. One woman leaned out from a passenger seat and waved her arms, yelling, ‘Hi, Bill!’ It was unclear if Mr. Clinton was within earshot.”

The Clintons and Kamala Harris Descend on a Hamptons Wedding of Liberal Royalty

3. Remember Javanka?

Remember Javanka? They’re baaaaack!

Just when you thought they had faded into the Saudi sunset, backlit by natural gas flares of the oil fields owned by the luckiest royal family in human history, Javanka has resurfaced in Albania, where they hope to turn a Soviet and then Maoist era naval base into a, drum roll please, luxury resort! (Albania was the last country to give up Maoism, and was known as the North Korea of Europe.)

“In 1948, a group of Soviet military officers and East German engineers visited Albania’s Sazan (then known as Saseno) Island, a 2.2-square-mile lump of granite strategically positioned between a Soviet Navy base on Albania’s mainland and the heel of the Italian boot. … the Russians and their Cold War allies spent the next decade digging a complex series of underground bunkers and tunnels capable of withstanding nuclear attack, building fortified submarine pens to protect at least a dozen warships, and covering the jagged, rocky terrain with anti-aircraft guns, long-range-missile batteries, minefields, and trenches.
“Today, Sazan is uninhabited. …. It has no natural water supply, its few flat surfaces hide poorly designated minefields, and it’s home to so many poisonous snakes that the Albanian government prohibits camping.
“In other words, it’s the perfect location for Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners to invest in a luxury resort for wealthy travelers ….”
As noted about under “2. Yes Kings! …” Democratic party plutocrats are also interested in Albania. They invited the Prime Minister of Albania to their royal wedding. It’s not just the Trumps.

But, what could be so enticing about Albania?

“Albania is one of the better stories in the Balkans …,” said a real-estate analyst in Tiranë, who asked not to be named for fear of offending clients. ‘That’s the good news. The problems remain serious. Albania’s got deeply entrenched and systematic corruption in terms of infrastructure and political influence. And there’s concerns by mainstream-institutional investors about the perceived culture of money-laundering and organized crime.’”

Perceived culture of money laundering and organized crime? The Neapolitan clans are pikers next to these guys.

“Or as a prominent Albanian investigative journalist said of the competing political parties, ‘There’s no good guys here on either side. Politics is a death sport among the elite families. The only real reforms are pursuing political enemies for corruption. Sure, they’re guilty, but the pursuit is always political in nature.’”

A political environment where the progressives and the conservatives are in agreement on the need for corruption seems perfect for our dueling own political and economic elites.

“In July 2023, Kushner, Ivanka Trump, and Richard Grenell, former special envoy to Serbia and Kosovo and current envoy for ‘special missions,’ joined Albanian prime minister Edi Rama at a local museum, which reportedly marked the start of the discussions. Kushner formally announced a deal during an interview with Bloomberg in March 2024, unveiling plans for three development projects estimated to cost several billion dollars.

Note the presence of Albanian Prime Minister Rama at the beginning of the discussions about the luxury resort on the island of poisonous snakes.

And note the presence of Richard Grenell, now the acting director of the Kennedy Center. As ambassador to Germany, he alienated everyone but the AfD, and the Free Democrats called for his expulsion. He was also an advocate for the Moldovan politician and oligarch Vladimir “Vlad” Plahotniuc, Moldova’s “most feared tycoon” (New York Times), who is charged with stealing $1B U.S. from the Moldovan Central Bank, among other crimes. Vlad is rumored to be hiding in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cypress, which is recognized only by the Republic Turkey. But it’s hard to tell, since Vlad also has multiple identities (as opposed to multiple personalities)—under the name of Vlad Ulinici (née Vladimir Ulinici) in Romania, and Vladislav Novak in Moldova.

Given the inaccessibility and general inhospitable nature of this paradise, who would want to invest? Everything has to be brought in, and you can’t walk around with wearing snake-proof thigh high boots. Perhaps this resort is aimed at the survival fetishists market, sort of BDSM meets backwoods militia meets money out the wazoo.

As you may have suspected, there are Russians involved. Javanka is doing business with Russian/Swiss oligarch Vladislav Doronin.

Vladislav Doronin, seen here with Naomi Campbell, Ivana Trump, and Massimo Gargia in 2010.

“To manage the development, Kushner has partnered with the luxury-hospitality company Aman Resorts. Aman specializes in small, often remote, and very expensive hotels. ….
“Aman’s properties aren’t for the merely rich; they cater to a clientele that makes rich people jealous. That could explain the small size of the Sazan project—some reports have it at only 40 units—and the seeming indifference to logistical difficulties….
“Vladislav Doronin … first made his fortune in the early 1990s, just after the breakup of the Soviet Union, working with the then fugitive commodities trader Marc Rich.”

And the plot sickens! Remember Marc Rich? Marc Rich, the fugitive trader hiding out in Switzerland who was pardoned by none other than Bill Clinton, in one of Clinton’s more controversial pardons. The pardon followed large donations to the Democratic Party by Rich’s ex-wife, Denise Rich. Widespread outrage ensued; that pardon took place at a time when there was still a smidgen of shame in our ruling class.

Marc Rich made money all over the place: His career trading oil ranged from South Africa under apartheid, Cuba under Fidel Castro, Marxist Angola, the Nicaraguan under the Sandinistas, Romania under Nicolae Ceaușescu, and Chile under Augusto Pinochet Chile. Rich did business with the Shah of Iran, natch. Following the overthrow of the Shah of Iran, Rich developed a special relationship with the Ayatollah Khomeini. Iran became Rich's most important supplier of crude oil for more than 15 years. Rich sold Iranian oil to Israel—and helped Mossad as well.

“’Marc Rich ended up being a mentor to all these young kids who came out of the Communist Party establishment, and who made billions off these schemes themselves….”

The Serbians are also in on this, but there has been some pushback there.

“But a similar, half-billion-dollar deal in Belgrade, to develop the wreckage of buildings damaged by the U.S. during the 1999 Kosovo war into a hotel-and-residence complex, has run into opposition despite the strong support of the pro-Trump government of Serbian president Aleksandar Vučić.
“Vučić, while publicly supportive of the project, has been forced to open a criminal investigation into whether the Serbian government illegally changed the status of the site from that of a monument to suffering at the hands of American imperialism, into condominiums and a hotel owned by the U.S. president’s son-in-law.”

I can see how that might perturb a few Serbians. A friend who travels to Belgrade from time to time told me that the city is wonderful, and very hospitable, but don’t mention Bill Clinton.

“In Albania, the connection between Grenell and his previous experience in the Balkans appears to have helped smooth over any concerns, but Aman’s former head of security, retired F.B.I. counter-intelligence agent Charles McGonigal, was sentenced to 78 months in prison. The charges included conspiracy to violate U.S. sanctions and money-laundering during his time at the F.B.I. on behalf of both Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska and a former Albanian intelligence agent with close ties to Rama.
“It’s a heady mix of connections to Russian oligarchs, a treasonous F.B.I. agent, luxury-real-estate deals, and the U.S. president’s son-in-law, but Rama shows a remarkable ability to navigate such company across ideological divides [emphasis added]. Just last week, he gave a toast at the wedding of Alex Soros and longtime Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin.”

Wow, that guy gets around.

“Whether a difficult-to-access island covered in landmines and Cold War bunkers is remotely viable for a luxury resort remains to be seen. But perhaps Kushner and his Saudi backers believe the partnership offers broader benefits than simple financial returns.

I’ll say.

Jared Does Albania

Remember the Trump Tower Baku? In the 2010’s, Ivanka Trump and the Trump organization was involved with this project. As was Ziya Mammadov, an Azerbaijani oligarch who also did extensive business with Iranian construction companies, some of whom were involved with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. Whom we are bombing now.

Donald Trump’s Worst Deal

The hotel has never opened. But it netted a nice return, between $2.5M and $2.8M in hotel fees. For a hotel that never opened.

Nice work, if you can find it

Tale of Trump and partner in Azerbaijan real estate project

4. The Israel Iran War

News flash: Israel’s attack on Iran has apparently not led the Iranian people to decide to overthrow the Islamic Republic. They overthrew the Shah, with considerable loss of life, which means that they could overthrow this government. But that’s not going to happen when the country is under attack. Or sanctions, for that matter.

In fact, predictably, Israel’s attack is strengthening the hardliners, and leading Iranian citizens to call for Iran to develop nuclear weapons.

Iran debates nuclear arms, strait closure amid Israeli bombardment

On Monday, the U.S. sent 28 air tankers across the Atlantic.